Turcot to drop ramps, Ville Marie to lose capacity in 2016

One of Quebec's busiest highways is going to lose a lot of capacity for years to come as part of the upcoming reconstruction of the Turcot Interchange.

And drivers will find they literally 'can't get there from here' as ramps through the Interchange are shut down.

"I think it's safe to say that if people were frustrated with traffic in the past you ain't seen nothing yet, because we've got just so much on the plate heading into 2016," said traffic consultant Rick Leckner.

"I think it's safe to say that most people in one way or another will be inconvenienced and will be delayed."

The next major phase of work on the Turcot will be the closure of the ramp from Highway 15 North to the Ville Marie Expressway.

The ramp from 15 North to the 720 East will be closed in April 2016 and subsequently demolished.

Soon afterward the ramp from Highway 15 South to the 720 East will be reduced to half its current capacity.

As drivers saw in previous years, the ramp will go down to just one lane.

Next summer the Guy St. exit from the eastbound Ville Marie will be closed for several months.

When the Guy St. exit reopens, the Atwater exit will be closed.

Then, in October 2016, half of the lanes on the Eastbound Ville Marie Expressway will be eliminated for a three-kilometre stretch. That means that only two lanes will be open to traffic between the Turcot Interchange and the Guy St. exit.

At this point KPH Turcot, the consortium of Kiewit and Parsons Canada that is building the interchange, does not know how long the closure of two lanes on the Ville Marie will last.

Years of work at Ville St-Pierre

In mid-December, people in NDG and Montreal West will be facing detours to access Highway 20 West and the Mercier bridge as the Ville St-Pierre interchange is rebuilt.

Next year will also see more closures of the Montreal West connections to and from Highway 20 via Ste. Anne de Bellevue Blvd., although new entrances and exits via Notre Dame St. should be ready by then.

The Ste. Anne de Bellevue entrance and exit are being demolished and a rail tunnel rebuilt because Highway 20 is being shifted closer to the St. Jacques Blvd. escarpment.

The Turcot Interchange rebuild is a $3.7 billion project that is due to be completed in 2020.

The work requires moving Highway 20 through the Turcot Yards, shifting the Ville Marie Expressway (it will become Route 136), and rebuilding the St. Jacques St. bridge over the Decarie Expressway.

In addition to the existing connections between Highways 20, 15, 10 and the Ville Marie, six new one-lane ramps will be built.